Christmas Fair - A Huge Success!

A big, big thank you goes out to everyone who supported our Christmas Fair this year we have raised an amazing £1020 - WOW!

We couldn't have done it without all the help from those organising the event, setting up on the day, manning stalls, clearing away and especially those who spent their hard earned pennies - it is truly appreciated by everyone connected with pre-school.

The profit will now go into our fund to provide a permanent play structure for our outside area - we're hoping for a pirate ship!!

THANK YOU!!

Two Weeks till our Christmas Fair

It's only a couple of weeks now until our Christmas Fair on Saturday 6th December from 2pm - 4pm.

We will be having lots of stalls as well as Santa in his Grotto.  In order to make it a success we need lots of help;

• we need donations of bottles for our bottle tombola (anything you like as long as it's in a bottle - wine, beer, perfume etc)
• donations of Christmas chocolates for our chocolate tombola - selection boxes, chocolate Santa's etc
• cakes! We will be asking for cakes to be brought in the day before (or on the day) so get your baking tins ready!
• we are having a 'Homemade Stall' and are looking for anything 'homemade' - jams, chutneys, knitted items, jewellery etc
• we also need prizes for our raffle
• volunteers to man stalls on the day
• volunteers to help put up posters

Stalls are also available for local small businesses at £10 per stall plus a donation for our raffle.  Please contact Jayne at springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk or 07960 983423.

All money raised from this event will go direct to pre-school and will support our project to install a permanent play fixture in our outside area, we are hoping for a pirate ship!!

Thank you for any support you can give this event it is greatly appreciated.

Thank You!

We have had two great fundraisers this term.  The Christmas Card Art Project has raised £58 whilst our Cake Sale week raised an amazing £125 - WOW!

A big thank you to everyone who got involved with both of these fundraisers especially all our talented bakers!!

We are hoping that our photo morning has raised lots too as there were some lovely photos.  If you haven't got you photo order in yet you have until 2.45pm pm Friday 24th October!!

Thank you!

AGM & Committee Meeting

We have our first parent committee meeting of the school year on Tuesday 14th October, at 7.30pm at The Risley Park pub.  This will also be our AGM and see the election of our committee members.

We will be looking forward to upcoming fundraisers, with our annual Christmas Fair top of our list! As well as any other ideas that our parents may have.

We would love to see as many parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles etc etc) as possible at the meeting.  This is your chance to get involved with pre-school and help ensure that we continue to be the best possible pre-school we can be.  It's also chance to meet other parents, make friends, have a drink and help out all at the same time!

Hope to see you there :)

Cake Sale

Well it's nearly time for our first cake sale of the school year!

Next week, 13th October, will be cake sale week; we will start selling cakes on Monday morning at the end of session and keep going until we run out of cakes!!

So all you bakers out there get your ingredients sorted and baking tins prepped ready to bring in your creations from Monday onwards...if baking isn't your thing then don't worry we like shop bought ones too :)

All monies raised from the cake sale will help support our Christmas activities; craft supplies, party game prizes, presents from Santa and special snack treats.

Thank you.

Derbyshire County Council Childcare Sufficiency Survey

Derbyshire County Council has a legal duty to assess the provision of childcare to determine if there is sufficient childcare available, as far as reasonably practicable, to allow parents/carers to access work, education or training.

The Childcare Improvement Service is now conducting a survey to highlight any gaps in provision and ensure that parents/carers can access high quality affordable childcare.  Parents/carers are invited to take part in their Childcare Consultation 2014 by following this link www.derbyshire.gov.uk/childcareconsultation

Thank you.

New School Year

We hope everyone has a great start to the new school year and all our leavers are settling in nicely to their new schools.

We have lots happening between now and Christmas so please check back here regularly for updates.

You can also follow us on Facebook - Springfield Pre-School as well as Twitter @SpringfieldPre1

Good Luck!

We would just like to wish all those children starting at Nottinghamshire schools lots of luck for your first day at 'big school'.

We shall miss you all but look forward to hearing how you all get along, we know you are going to love it!

Summer Fair Success

We would just like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported Saturday's Summer Fair; whether you helped set up, manned a stall or came along and spent your hard earned cash.  We had a fantastic day, the sun shone and we raised loads of money.

Whilst we haven't got an exact figure just yet it looks like profit for the fair will be very close to £1000!!! WOW! That is amazing! THANK YOU!

We have a few unclaimed raffle prizes so please check your tickets we have white 950, white 968 and green 208 - if you have a winning ticket please contact Jayne on 07960 983423 or springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk

Summer Fair Raffle

Have you bought your raffle tickets yet?

Here's what you could be winning...

£50 voucher for Boden
Signed boots from DCFC
Nottingham Playhouse tickets
Fish & chips from Andy's Fish Bar
Sunday lunch for 2 @ Risley Hall
Birds Confectioners vouchers
Soap & Glory 'goodies' from Boots
Day passes for The Village Health & Fitness
Manor Farm Park tickets
Family ticket for Belton House
Tickets and meal vouchers for Chucklebutties
Risley Park vouchers
Gulliver's Park tickets
Lips & nails 'goodies' from Boots
Sunday lunch for 4 @ The Village
Tickets for Denz Play Centre
Tickets for Pirate's Play Centre
Tickets for a One-Day Cup match at Trent Bridge

Sole Nutrition Massage Voucher

Voucher for Harts Restaurant

…and much, much more!

The raffle will be drawn at the Summer Fair, this Saturday at pre-school around 3.45pm

Summer Fair

Well it's nearly time for our Summer Fair, this Saturday 5th July from 1pm till 4pm.  There will be lots of fun stuff for all the family and all money raised will go straight to pre-school.  There will be;

• Refreshments
• Raffle
• Face Painting
• Cakes
• Bouncy Castle
• Lucky Dip
• Bottle Tombola
• Summer Hat Competition
• ...and lots more

In order to make this our best Summer Fair yet we need YOUR help.  Can you bake some cakes? Have you helped your child enter our Summer Hat competition? Can you help on the day? Have you told your family, friends and neighbours...the more the merrier!

If you are able to help in anyway please let Jayne know as soon as possible!

We still have stalls available so if you have a business you'd like to promote please get in touch. Stalls are £10 plus a raffle donation each.

Thank you in advance for your support :)

Summer Fair - 5th July 1pm - 4pm

Our Summer Fair is fast approaching and preparations are well under way.

If you have a small business, or know of someone, who would like a stall at this event please contact Jayne on 07960 983423 or email springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk

Stalls are £10 each plus a donation for our raffle.

All proceeds from this event will go direct to support pre-school.

Free Childcare for Two Year Olds

Did you know we offer free places for some 2 year olds?

If you have a 2 year old child and live in Derbyshire you may be eligible for free childcare per week. Working families earning less than £16,190 and claiming working tax credits as well as those on certain benefits can get up to 15 hours of free childcare a week.

Go to www.derbyshire.gov.uk/freechildcare to find out if you qualify.

Staff News

We would just like to let everyone know that Adam is moving on to pastures new.

His last day will be this Friday (13th June) and we will be having a collection for him; if you'd like to contribute please pass your donations, discreetly, to Jayne ;) Thanks!

We would just like to thank Adam for all his work with us over the last few years and wish him every success in his new career.

Latest Newsletter

Important Dates for your Diary

w/c Monday 23^rd June         -           Bug Week!

Wednesday 25^th June          -           Inset Day – pre-school closed

w/c Monday 30^th June         -           Non-Uniform Week

Saturday 5^th July                 -           Summer Fair (1pm – 4pm)

w/c Monday 7^th July                        -           End of year reports issued

Tuesday 15^th July                 -           Leavers Concert @ 4pm

Wednesday 23^rd July           -           End of term

Sessions

We will be confirming very shortly sessions for September, if you require any extra sessions or changes please let Jayne know as soon as possible as some of our sessions are already full or nearly full!!  Any questions as always please speak to Jayne.

Fees

All session fee invoices have now been issued and should be paid by Wednesday 18^th June.  Late payment of fees will automatically incur a £6.75 penalty fee and continuous failure to pay fees could result in the removal of your child’s place from pre-school.  Please speak to Jayne regarding any payment issues so that this can be avoided – many thanks.

Sunshine!!

Please remember that should the weather decide to be nice to us that children should be sent to pre-school with sun-cream already applied as well as a sun hat (clearly labelled!).  We have our own supply of sun-cream that we will apply during the day if conditions dictate but if you prefer your own sun-cream to be used please send us a supply clearly labelled with your child’s name that we will then retain for the remainder of the Summer term – thank you.

If we do get some good weather we may decide to have some ‘water fun days’!  This will consist of lots of fun messing around in water so children will need to have swimsuits and towels.  If we decide that conditions are warm enough for this we will text parents the day before to let you know what will be happening.

Bug Week – w/c 23^rd June

To support our topic of mini-beasts we will be having a bug week!  All children are invited to come dressed as their favourite bugs; there will be lots of fun activities as well as plenty of face painting!

Non-Uniform Week – w/c 30^th June

All children are invited to ‘dress down’ for a week and wear their favourite outfits to pre-school; all we ask in return is for a donation for our bottle tombola stall at our Summer Fair.  Donations of any and all bottles are very much appreciated; from wine to beer to perfume to nail varnish, just as long as it’s in a bottle!  Please hand all donations to any staff during the week of the 30^th June – Thank You!

Smarties

Well we have finally managed to count all the pennies very kindly donated by way of Smartie tubes and you managed to raise £130!!!  Thank you!

Summer Fair

This year’s Summer Fair will take place on Saturday 5^th July from 1pm - 4pm and will have a seaside theme!  Our committee are now starting to get ready but they really do need your help; can you man a stall? Do you know someone or a business that will donate a raffle prize? Can you help with preparations leading up to the fair?  Do you have an idea for a stall?  Do you have a hidden skill that we can make use of? If you want to get involved please either let Jayne or a member of the committee know (Debbie – Thomas’s mum or Pete – Sienna Ellis’s dad).

Leavers Concert

Our Leavers Concert will be on Tuesday 15^th July at 4pm.  This concert will be for only those children that are leaving us for either school nursery or reception year.  A separate note will be coming home shortly with more details.

Important Dates

Please note that we have added an Inset Day to our Summer Term on Wednesday 25^th June when pre-school will be closed.  Please also note that pre-school will now close for the Summer holidays on Wednesday 23^rd July (previously Tuesday 22^nd July).  Sorry for any confusion.

What belongs to who?

Please help us…with nearly 70 children registered with us it is getting increasingly difficult to remember what belongs to whom!!  Please ensure that ALL belongings - coats, jumpers, bags, hats and lunch bags etc - are CLEARLY labelled with your child’s name.  Items found without names will be labelled by ourselves with a permanent marker – thank you for helping us!

Spare Clothes

Please ensure that your child is sent to pre-school with a spare set of clothes to allow for all types of accident whether water/messy play or toileting.  Please remember to include a complete spare set of clothes and don’t forget about socks!!!  Thank You.

Home Time

When collecting your child please try to give as much room and consideration as possible for children leaving the building and who are trying to make their way to their parent/carer, it can sometimes be very hard to see people for us adults never mind the children!!  Thank you.

How to Contact Pre-School

Our phone number is 07960 983423 or email us at; springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk and check our website www.springfieldpreschool.co.uk and Facebook page for up-to-date information.

Retro Disco Success

Last night's Retro Disco was a great success.  A good time was had by all and we raised £287 for pre-school too.

A big thank you to everyone who came along and supported the event.  Thanks to Jayne, Sylvia and Jaime for organising the event and thank you to Andy from Cooltraxsounds for supplying a great disco (as always!)

We have an unclaimed raffle prize of a bottle of champagne - ticket pink 312 - please get in touch if this is your ticket.

Future Events

We are always looking for new and fun fundraising events...do you have any ideas? Would you like us to organise another disco? How about a fashion show?  Or a retail evening?  We want to run events that you will be interested in and support so if you have any ideas let us know - springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk

Retro Disco - Saturday 10th May

Our next fundraiser is an over 18's only event and will take place on Saturday 10th May.  We are having a 'Retro Disco' at Risley Village Hall from 7.30pm - 11.30pm.

There will be a very reasonably priced licensed bar and a disco playing the sounds of the 80's, 90's and even a few 00's.

Tickets are only £7.50 each and available direct from pre-school on 07960 983423 or email -
springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk

All profit from this event goes straight to pre-school.

So come along, have a boogie and enjoy a great night out that won't cost the earth but will help raise money for pre-school at the same time :)

New Term

Our Summer term starts on Monday 28th April and our first topic will be 'Gardening & Springtime'.  We are currently in need of small yoghurt pots so that we can do some planting as well as gardening magazines, old seed packets and leaflets/brochures with a gardening/plant theme.

And don't forget to bring back your Smartie tubes full of pennies!!

Although the term is only 4 weeks long we have lots happening including our Retro Disco on Saturday 10th May (over 18's only) and a visit from Kids Klub Video on Tuesday 20th May.

We will also start our forward planning for September and be canvassing all our parents as to what sessions they will need for their children come September as well as starting the transition process for those children moving onto 'big school'.

Oh and on Wednesday 30th April we have a committee meeting at The Risley Park Pub at 7.30pm to discuss and prep all things Summer Fair related.  So if you'd like to help out or have ideas for stalls etc then please come along and join in the fun!  Everyone is welcome :)

End of Term

Well, today is the last day of our Spring term.  We would just like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and hope you all have a lovely couple of weeks before we return on Monday 28th April.

We hope your children are enjoying their pack of Smarties, please remember to return the tube full of pennies.  All money raised this way will help us provide some fantastic resources for our next topic of 'Gardening & Springtime'.

On sale NOW are tickets for our next fundraiser; we are having an over 18's disco on Saturday 10th May at Risley Village Hall from 7.30pm - 11.30pm. and there will be a very reasonably priced licensed bar!  Tickets are £7.50 each and available direct from pre-school (email: springfieldpreschool@hotmail.co.uk or 07960 983423).  This is set to be a great night, come along and dance the night away to the sounds of the 80's, 90's and 00's and help raise money for pre-school at the same time :)

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with all the news and happenings at pre-school.

Committee Meeting Update

Following our Committee meeting on Wednesday 12^th March we just wanted to bring you up to date on what was discussed;

New Shed – we are hoping to replace our two very tired sheds with one large, purpose built new one.  We are hoping to hear some news about a possible grant that will help us accomplish this and if all things work out are looking to set the wheels in motion this Easter.

Easter Fundraiser – we will be once more issuing tubes of Smarties for the children just prior to Easter and asking parents to return the tubes (once empty!!) full of pennies (20p’s fit lovely!!)

Disco – we are now putting plans together to hold an evening fundraiser on Saturday 10^th May.  This will be an Over 18’s disco with a retro vibe, playing 80’s, 90’s and maybe some 00’s! So keep the date free as this will be a fun night and a great way to help raise money for pre-school.  More details to follow very soon.

Summer Fair – this year’s fair will now take place on Saturday 5^th July 1pm – 4pm and will take on the theme of ‘Springfield-by-the-Sea’.  We are hoping to evoke the feeling of being at the seaside and are looking to have donkey rides, an ice-cream van, BBQ, candy floss, games of chance and lots more BUT we need YOUR help!  Can you help organise the event?  Can you help on the day?  Do you have any ideas for stalls/activities?  Do you know of anyone, or businesses, that could help out?  This is our major fundraiser of the year and we need to make it the best ever but we can only do that if we all work together and share the load.  We will be having a meeting on Wednesday 30^th April at 7.30pm at The Risley Park pub to chat and plan all things Summer fair; please come along, show your support and help make this a great family event!

Please speak to Jayne or any of the committee should you want to know more about what the committee does or want to get involved.

Committee Meeting

Our next committee meeting will be on Wednesday 12th March at 7.30pm at The Risley Park pub.

All parents are invited to attend, the more the merrier.

This is your chance to get involved with pre-school and help organise our much needed fundraising events. Our next major fundraiser will be our Summer Fair and we needs lots of ideas and helpers.

If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to help out in someway then please speak to Jayne.

We are always looking for parents to join our committee so if you are interested pop along on Wednesday and find out what it's all about.

Hope to see lots of you there!

Cake Sale & Half Term

A big thank you to everyone who baked for our cake stall this last week and most importantly to all those who bought cakes.  We had some amazing creations which we hope everyone has enjoyed.  The total raised by the end of the week was £98!  That is an amazing figure - THANK YOU!

We hope that the money will help go some way to buying a couple of child sized picnic benches for our outside area.

Don't forget that it's our half term break this week; we hope you all have a great week and that the weather isn't too awful!

See you on Monday 24th February!

Valentines Cake Sale

All this week, beginning 10th February, we will be having a Valentines themed cake sale. All donations are gratefully received; we look forward to seeing some more of our parents amazing creations - we have some very talented bakers amongst our parents!!

All money raised will go straight to pre-school and will go toward buying a couple of child sized benches and parasols for our outside area.

Many thanks for your continuing support, it really is appreciated :)

Wanted!!

Can you help?

We need the following to help with our new topic after half term when we will be exploring shapes, patterns and colours;

• Wallpaper - off cuts, unused rolls
• Sandpaper - all sizes and sorts
• Boxes - cardboard boxes of all sizes
• Wood - small pieces of planed, soft wood
• Home decorating/DIY supplies - paint brushes, paint trays etc anything as long as it's child friendly!
• An old clothes horse!

If you can help with any of the above that would be really appreciated - thank you!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  And welcome back to pre-school as we embark on a new term.

We start the term looking at all things Winter, with a special focus on our number work.  We will be celebrating Chinese New Year towards the end of January and then we will finish this half term with a Valentines themed cake sale the w/c 10th February.

We have re-vamped our Book Corner with some lovely new soft furnishings and still have a couple more bits we'd like to add.  We are also now using the new style coat peg labels...so remember to look for the same 'image' that is on your child's tray label...the children should be able to help the parents with this one!!!

As always please speak to any of our staff should you have any questions about anything to do with pre-school.